Timing belt advice needed badly.......

[BTO]

Make sure you have the special tool to compress the timing belt tensioner as you cannot easily remove it without removing the AC compressor. I just did this job friday and ended up having to go get the tool from my friend who is a tech at our toyota dealer here.

Having no friends who work in a Toyota service dept, what can be used as a substitute if you don't have access to the special tool?

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Having no friends who work in a Toyota service dept, what can be used as a substitute if you don't have access to the special tool?

A socket wrench, swivel and lots of patience to remove the a/c compressor. ;-)

The mounting bolts for the tensioner are buried under the mounting bracket for the a/c. Compact design but not maintenance friendly.:roadkill:

 

[Elton H]

2x4 and some bolts will need a puller to get the pulley off though

 

[Elton H]

o ya i did not remove any of my ac stuff it was tight but i got the tensioner off

 

[88xtraSR5]

Wow 217 ft. lbs.???? Good lord, Haven't had any toyota engines apart. But have built several fast chevy small blocks and never used more than 65 ft. lbs. with no problem. Find that amazing, my micrometer style torque wrench only reads up to 150 ft. lbs.? Hope I don' have to do a tb change on the 3.4 anytime soon...:wow:

 

[Boosted3s]

o ya i did not remove any of my ac stuff it was tight but i got the tensioner off

Yeah, Im sure you can get back there if you try hard enough with different swivels and things. Overall the job was easy for me, but I own a auto performance shop so we have all of the tools. My crank pulley came right off with no puller although the bolt was hard to get loose, even with the impact gun.

 

[Elton H]

i tq mine down to 214ft lb's with a dab of red thread lock if that bolt comes loose or is not tight enough good chance u will destroy the crank

 

[BTO]

Elton, with 214 ft/lbs and locktight I'm sure that mfer is never coming loose. Only question is will you be able to get it off next time?

BTW, does the toyota manual say to use locktight? Maybe with locktight a more reasonable 100 ft/lbs would be sufficient?

 

[brian2sun]

Elton, with 214 ft/lbs and locktight I'm sure that mfer is never coming loose. Only question is will you be able to get it off next time?

BTW, does the toyota manual say to use locktight? Maybe with locktight a more reasonable 100 ft/lbs would be sufficient?

No way, 100 lbs. isn't near tight enough. Locktite won't do crap for that pulley if it's not torqued properly. The old spec on that pulley (for the '96s) was ~180 ft lbs. and they had to up it to 217 because they had lots of problems - the pulley was loosening, rounding out the key hole, and damaging the harmonic balancer, making the engine run terrible causing further damage. Very costly repairs.

 

[TheDurk]

Elton, with 214 ft/lbs and locktight I'm sure that mfer is never coming loose. Only question is will you be able to get it off next time?

BTW, does the toyota manual say to use locktight? Maybe with locktight a more reasonable 100 ft/lbs would be sufficient?

fuhgeddaboutit! The manual actually indicates using a new bolt each time, and new bolts come with a pre-applied threadlocker compound on it. People, including dealers, re-use the old bolt all the time, however. I didn't. So use the LocTite on a re-used bolt. 100 ft-lbs. is a death wish. You need a 250 ft.-lb. torque wrench or don't attempt the job. I got a Snap-On on eBay like this one: TQFR250C